Yamaha FJR 1300 recall and helmet law protester death

We regularly bring you news about a variety of different cars that need to be recalled due to a manufacturing fault. But today we have news of a motorcycle the Yamaha FJR 1300 being recalled, and news of a helmet law protester who tragically died.

The recall concerns Yamaha FJR 1300 motorcycles which were made between February 2006 and March 2009. The problem concerns a faulty electrical system and according to an article on Ultimate Motorcycling by Sam Sims, Yamaha have said the recall affects 9,850 motorcycles.

The problem concerns the ground joint connector of the wire harness, which may overheat and go out of shape. If this happens it could cause an intermittent ground wire connection, and if this occurs the whole electrical system or other electrical components could fail. This would in turn cause the motorcycle to suddenly stall.

If you are in a car and it suddenly stalls is bad enough, but will be even worse on two wheels. For the units that are affected a Yamaha dealer will install an extra wire sub-lead, if the unit has already been damaged they will provide and install a complete new wire harness. There of course is no charge to the owner for this service.

The recall will start this month, and owners can contact Yamaha direct on 1-800-962-7962. Alternatively they can also ring the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Vehicle Safety Hotline on 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153).

Meanwhile in New York a rider protesting against the compulsory use of crash helmets tragically died following an accident. He was part of a group of around 550 riders and lost control of his Harley-Davidson and was flipped over the handlebars. State troopers have said if he was wearing a helmet he may have survived, according to an article over at Forbes.com.

The protest rally which was organized by ABATE encourages riders to use helmets, but don’t like the mandatory helmet laws. The person who died in the accident wasn’t a member of ABATE but had at least thirty years of riding experience.

Many motorcycle riders around the world want to have the choice of wearing a crash helmet, even though they decide to wear them. In some countries such as the UK it has been compulsory to wear helmets since the 1970s, and there has even been talk recently of bringing a similar law in for cyclists.

Do you think motorcyclists in all US states should be made to wear a helmet?